Thomas the Rhymer

by Ellen Kushner

Publisher:

Bantam

Copyright:

1990

Printing:

June 2004

ISBN:

0-553-58697-1

Format:

Mass market

Pages:

262

Thomas the Rhymer, or Thomas of Erceldoune, is a soothsayer from Scottish
history best known as the protagonist of the balad by the same name (Child
Ballad number 37). Popularly acclaimed as a prophet, he was widely known
in 13th century Scotland. The ballad claims that he encountered the Queen
of Fairyland and spent seven years in her service, outside the mortal
realms. Kushner's book is a retelling of his story from the ballad and
other expansions of it.

The plot is very straightforward. Thomas is a harper and philanderer who
befriends an older couple who live in the country. He visits them
periodically between trips to court and falls in love with a woman who
lives nearby, but continues his travelling life until he encounters the
Queen of Elfland and falls desperately in love with her. He kisses her
and then sleeps with her, and pays the price by being taken away to
Elfland. After serving for seven years, and he returns to the world and
has to come to terms with how he has changed in his time there.

On its surface, this is not particularly remarkable nor apparently has
much depth. There are some complexities added in Elfland, a fairy puzzle
that Thomas has to work through, but the plot isn't what carries the book.
Rather, the deep characterization and beautiful complexity of their
reactions carries this book, and does so quite well.

There are four sections of the book, each told in the first person by a
different character. The first was the hardest going for me. Told by the
older man whose home Thomas stumbles into in the middle of a storm, it is
written in a rustic dialect that I found a touch awkward to read. It also
sets up background that doesn't become important until towards the end of
the book, which was a bit slow in places. In the second part, thought,
told from Thomas's perspective and covering his time in Elfland, I started
warming to the book. Thomas develops more depth away from the mortal
world, and the pleasures and terrors of the elves are nicely ambiguous and
occasionally enigmatic.

By the third and fourth parts, I was delighted. Kushner avoids making
anything too simple or black and white. No characters are good or evil,
just people (or elves); decisions have consequences, and no path is
obviously right, just different and carrying different tradeoffs.

The exploration of Thomas's ability once he returns from Elfland raises
intriguing ideas, but despite that and the elven puzzle this is not much
of an idea book. The typical fantasy novel will pack in quite a bit more
world-building and gosh-wow magical concepts. This is, rather, a quiet
story about people, how they interact, the decisions they make, and the
effect they have on each other's lives. The ending is just note-perfect
and made the book for me, taking only a final five paragraphs to make me
rethink the relationships of the whole book and see Elfland and its Queen
in a different light.

Thomas the Rhymer is rather unlike the sort of book I normally
recommend, but it's about as good of an expansion of a traditional story
as I've ever seen. It made me believe in the characters. Highly
recommended.